Computer Hardware/Software Settings

Liquid is high end editing system using lots of resources (especially if you have moved to Liquid 6). Lots of things can get in the way, and you can help keep interferences to a minimum by doing a little tweaking. Here are some of the things you can do:

  • Add a Hardware Profile
  • Edit you System's Hardware and other Configurations
  • Turn off Virus Checkers
  • Turn Off Firewalls
  • Turn off  Screen Savers
  • Shut down unnecessary Programs and Processes

The following info is based upon running Windows XP -which you probably should be. Most of these hints are also available in Windows 2000 settings.

  Add a profile for editing
    This is probably the first and most important adjustment you should make.  It allows you to boot to multiple hardware system configurations within the same operating system. The advantage  is that you can boot once to your clean editing system (no internet and a lot less hardware being loaded) and edit away, and then when you want to get on the internet or play games or work on things not related to your editing system, you can simply reboot and choose your normal machine setting  profile. If you are going to install a new program not related to video editing, make sure you start up a hardware profile other than the one you use for video editing.  And if you are really having trouble with your machine editing, this is one way you can try out different settings without loosing your current hardware settings.

I would create two settings - Video Editing and Normal - and maybe a third one called Experimental. Maybe another called Games or Kids or Family.

THE FOLLOWING BEST APPLIES once you have set up a VIDEO EDITING Hardware Profile (see above) and have chosen it when booting.
  Turn off Virus Checkers
    Turn off anything anywhere that has to do with Virus checking. Look in your and the default StartMenu folder in your MyDocuments folder. Look in Run / Services.MSC and in MSCONFIG.
  Turn Off Firewalls
    Turn off anything anywhere that has to do with Virus checking. Look in your and the default StartMenu folder in your MyDocuments folder. Look in Run / Services.MSC and in MSCONFIG.
  Turn off  Screen Savers
    Right click in Desktop and turn off any screen savers
Edit you System's Hardware and other Configurations - You will find these settings under Control Panel / System / hardware
 

 Hardware TAB
    If you have a nic card, disable it.

And If you are a 5.5 pro user with the 8500 card, you can turn off:
ATI WDM  Rage Theater Audio
ATI WDM  Rage Theater Video
ATI WDM Specialized MDV codec
ATI WDM  TV Audio Crossbar

 
 

 Advanced Settings TAB
    Performance: Choose Best Performance
 
  Shut down unnecessary Programs and Processes
    If you hit CTRL + A:T + DELETE together (the ole three finger salute), you bring up the Windows Task Manager, where you can see what programs and processes are running,  watch real time Page File and CPU usage, see who is on  the computer if networked  and shut down a process that is no longer working.  That's the Windows Task Manager.

Look at the processes running and see if there are items there that may not be needed for editing - like MSN messinger, Real Media programs, and other strange named programs.  You may not be able to recognize everything - and you can experiment to see if it is a mistake or not to shut down the process.

Some of these processes / programs are controlled by the STARTUP folders and show up in your icon tray on the right side of the start toolbar,  and some are controlled by  various SERVICES.  You can adjust the startup programs by running MSCONFIG and the Services by running SERVICES.MSC - as explained below. 

Shutting down unneeded applications and services aare going to help Liquid run better and better.

The following shows you how to eliminate unneeded applications and services.   

  Shut down unnecessary Start Up programs
    In the lower right of your windows task bar, several icons may show up for programs that are automatically started on your machine.  Real Player and MSMessinger is a real culprit, along with many other programs.  These are items that are generally found in your user and default user STARTUP folder in your MY DOCUMENTS folder.  Often you can shut them down by right clicking on them, but everytime you start up, they will be there again.

To shut them down permanently, choose start/run/msconfig and stop the applications there. If for some reason  that does not work and they keep appearing, you can go to your STARTUP folders (your and the default user) and delete the file there. If you are nervous about that, create a new folder and move them to the new folder so you can bring them back later.
  Shut down unnecessary Services
     

If you go to RUN SERVICES.MSC (or Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Services). You will see a listing of all the services that have been started on your computer. You can sort them by Startup and see what is automatica or manual. Although the names can be quite cryptic, they do have a description.

You may have to experiment here a bit, and be sure to keep track of the services you shut off.  I only do one or two at a time and write them down. That way, if something isn't working right, I start one up and see if that fixes the problem (and I make a note in a tech.txt file that I keep about everything on my machine, when I do it and what it is. Handy little file sometimes to remember how to do things or what I have done.

 

 

 Indexing
    Windows XP keeps a record of all files on your hard drive so that, when you perform a search, it will run faster. The downside is that it slows down most file operations on your PC because it is having to update the index. If you don't use your file search function very often, turn off your indexing service to gain back a little extra speed.  Find the Indexing Service. Right-click on it and choose Properties. As the startup type, choose Manual or Disabled.